At the Engaging Diverse Groups session, Dr Jamie Harle explained
how the UCL Teaching and Learning Strategy is encouraging greater partnership
with employers, resulting in more practical projects being completed off-campus.

Examples include project module work hosted in industrial
R&D facilities, the NHS, UCL satellite campuses and overseas workplaces
where training is delivered through a distance learning programme.

The problem

While this diversity fosters unique skills development and
job opportunities, it can lead to variation in student experience. The
availability of local support, the access to learning resources, the extent and
timing of formative feedback and the quality of external supervision can all differ.

The solution

Dr Harle explained how UCL Medical Physics and
Bioengineering (MP&B) is in the process of drawing up a new framework to
facilitate this type of off-campus project work and distance learning.

Last year MP&B had two students who
completed off-campus projects; one a computational project with a UCL research
group, the other was more practical where the student was supervised in an
overseas hospital by an external supervisor.

This type of off-campus learning not only facilitates more
industrial and overseas partnerships but also helps alleviate the issue of lack
of space, which is faced at UCL.

The future

Dr Harle sees a need to develop formative feedback processes
and guidance (in the form of a study guide) for both the student and external
supervisor in off-campus project work.

He aims to disseminate a bespoke framework as a packaged pdf
resource as a model for institutional roll-out. This document
is in the draft stages and Dr Harle is keen to receive input from colleagues at
UCL.